Sundays @ CCP

Howard Ruan, MDiv, AM, LCSW

(Chicago, Il) 

Sunday, May 4, 2025

One Continuous Mistake: Desiring Zen and Psychoanalysis

12-2pm (CST)

Haymarket House, 800 W Buena Ave, Chicago, IL

&

Zoom

About the presentation: In the last several decades, Buddhism has become increasingly associated with and operationalized within cognitive-behavioral approaches vis-à-vis the popularization of contemporary mindfulness. But the interdisciplinary dialogue between Buddhism and psychotherapy dates back to at least Fromm, Suzuki, and DeMartino’s 1960 classic Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis. Since then, a small but vigorous dialogue has been sustained between the two traditions, driven by psychoanalysts who identify as and practice within various Buddhist traditions. In this presentation, I explore my attempts to synthesize my religious framework of Soto Zen Buddhism with psychoanalytic and psychodynamic perspectives. 

Howard Ruan, MDiv, AM, LCSW (they/them) is a psychotherapist and co-op member at Rayo Counseling and Community Co-op. They have previously worked as a hospital chaplain at Rush University Medical Center, medical social worker at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and therapist at Heartland Alliance Health. They received their MDiv from the Divinity School and their AM from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. They have been a fellow at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis since 2020. They began practicing Zen Buddhism in 2009 and was lay-ordained by Guiding Teacher Emeritus Taigen Leighton in 2016. 

Learning Objectives

1) Participants will gain a cursory introduction to themes and trends in the intersection of Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis.

2) Participants will be able to describe connections and parallels between zazen (sitting meditation) and the analytic attitude.

This is a Beginners to Intermediate level presentation

Fees

CCP members: free with annual $195 membership, payable at registration.

Students:free with annual $175 membership, payable at registration.

New Fellows / Ongoing: free with annual $250/$300 membership, payable at registration.

Non-CCP members, single admission: $40

Continuing Education

This program is sponsored for Continuing Education Credits by the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the continuing education sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants or other funding that could be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If the program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CCP is licensed by the state of Illinois to sponsor continuing education credits for Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Counselors and Licensed Clinical Psychologists (license no. 159.000941 and 268.000020 and 168.000238 Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation).

Professionals holding the aforementioned credentials will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits a completed evaluation form must be turned in at the end of the presentation and licensed psychologists must first complete a brief exam on the subject matter. No continuing education credit will be given for attending part of the presentation. Refunds for CE credit after the program begins will not be honored. If a participant has special needs or concerns about the program, s/he/they should contact Toula Kourliouros Kalven by May 3, 2025 at: tkalven@ccpsa.org

References/Suggested Readings

Cooper, P. C. (2010). The Zen impulse and the psychoanalytic encounter. Routledge.

Cooper, S. P. (2023). Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism: A realizational perspective. Routledge.

Fromm, E., Suzuki, D. T., & DeMartino, R. (1960). Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis. Harper.

Molino, A. (1998). The couch and the tree: Dialogues in psychoanalysis and Buddhism. North Point Press. 

Moncayo, R. (2012). The signifier pointing at the moon: Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism. Karnac.

Safran, J. D. (2005). Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An unfolding dialogue. Wisdom Publications. 

Presented by

The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis/CCP Program Committee: Zak Mucha, LCSW, Alan Levy, PhD,  Toula Kourliouros Kalven.

The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis is an IRS 501(C)(3) charitable organization, and expenses may be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and your personal tax situation.

Best regards,
Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

Fridays @ CCP Lecture Series

Annie Reiner, Ph.D., Psy.D., LCSW

(Los Angeles, CA)

Friday, May 23, 2025

Bion’s Basics and Beyond

What Language Is This Patient Speaking: Limitations of Language in the Psychic Realm

Join us for drinks and light appetizers before the lecture!

Time: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM (CST)

Lecture begins 7 PM(CST)

Location: Haymarket House, 800 W Buena Ave, Chicago, IL

We look forward to seeing you there, whether in person or virtually via Zoom.

About the Presentation: Dr. Annie Reiner will describe some of W.R. Bion’s fundamental ideas, including his thoughts about the challenges of using verbal language to communicate primitive, often non-verbal states of mind. Bion spoke frequently in Los Angeles about the challenge of using everyday language, created for the physical world of the senses, but which psychoanalysts must adapt and apply to the metaphysical world of the mind.

As knowledge of primitive mental states increases, so does this challenge of finding ways to speak to deeper levels of the mind. Dr. Reiner examines our use of language, and how psychoanalysts communicate with their patients, as well as their colleagues. Others of Bion’s clinical theories will also be discussed, including the “selected fact,” an innovative clinical technique, as well as his most controversial concept of O.  Clinical examples will be used to illustrate these ideas.

Annie Reiner has written five psychoanalytic books, as well as numerous articles in journals, and anthologies. She lectures extensively about psychoanalysis throughout the world, and  Dr. James Grotstein ranked her “...high among Bion scholars.”   In addition to her psychoanalytic writings, she has written four books of poetry, a book of short stories, plays, and is the author/illustrator of six children’s books.

Dr. Annie Reiner is a senior faculty member and training analyst at The Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) in Los Angeles. Her work was greatly influenced by Wilfred Bion, with whom she studied in the 1970's.  She lectures throughout the world, is published in numerous journals and anthologies, and is the author of four psychoanalytic books, including—The Quest for Conscience & The Birth of the Mind (Karnac 2009), Bion and Being: Passion and the Creative Mind (Karnac 2012), Of Things Invisible to Mortal Sight: Celebrating The Work of James S. Grotstein (Karnac, 2017, and most recently, W.R. Bion’s Theories of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2022). Based on these writings, Dr. James Grotstein ranked her “...high among Bion scholars.”  Her latest book, The Poetry, Art, and Science of Psychoanalysis in Bion’s O (Routledge, projected publication date, January 2025).

Dr. Reiner is also a poet, painter, and a singer, and in addition to her psychoanalytic writings, she is the author of a book of short stories, four books of poems, and six children=s books which she also illustrated. She supervises and maintains a psychoanalytic practice in Beverly Hills, California. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to distinguish between the language of everyday life, and the language of emotional life   necessary in psychoanalytic work.

2. Participants will be able to observe the limitations in communicating about the metaphysical aspect of inner life.

3. Participants will be able to identify Bion’s concept of ‘O’ as a symbol for absolute truth and a sense of the infinite.

This is an All Level Presentation

Fees

CCP members: free with annual $195 membership, payable at registration.

Students:free with annual $175 membership, payable at registration.

New / Ongoing Fellows: free with annual $250/$300 membership, payable at registration.

Non-CCP members, single admission: $50

Continuing Education

This program is sponsored for Continuing Education Credits by the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the continuing education sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants or other funding that could be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If the program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CCP is licensed by the state of Illinois to sponsor continuing education credits for Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Counselors and Licensed Clinical Psychologists (license no. 159.000941 and 268.000020 and 168.000238 Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation).

Professionals holding the aforementioned credentials will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits a completed evaluation form must be turned in at the end of the presentation and licensed psychologists must first complete a brief exam on the subject matter. No continuing education credit will be given for attending part of the presentation. Refunds for CE credit after the program begins will not be honored. If a participant has special needs or concerns about the program, s/he/they should contact Toula Kourliouros Kalven by May 22, 2024 at: tkalven@ccpsa.org

References/Suggested Readings

Bion, W. R. (1962). Learning From Experience. New York: Basic Books.

Bion, W. R. (1970).  Attention and Interpretation. London, Karnac

Bion, W. R. (1974). Bion’s Brazilian Lectures I. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Imago Editora Ltda.

Reiner, A. (2022). W.R. Bion’s Theories of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction, London: Routledge 

Reiner, A. (2022). Limitations of Language in the Psychic Realm. In W.R. Bion’s Theories of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction (Chapter I, pp. 1-3), London: Routledge, 2022.

Reiner, A. (2022). The Selected Fact. In W.R. Bion’s Theories of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction (Chapter 3, pp. 28-39), London: Routledge, 2022.

“What language are we speaking?: Bion and early emotional development. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 81(1) 6-26 (March 2021). 

Presented by

The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis/CCP Program Committee: Toula Kourliouros Kalven, Alan Levy, PhD, Zak Mucha, LCSW

The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis is an IRS 501(C)(3) charitable organization, and expenses may be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and your personal tax situation.

Fridays @ CCP Lecture Series

Alan Bass, PhD

(New York, NY)

Friday, June 20, 2025

The Genocide Principle: A Report

7-9 pm: (CST): ZOOM Presentation & Discussion

About the Presentation: Genocide scholarship all agrees that it is a trans-historical, trans-cultural, universal phenomenon. As such, it calls for psychoanalytic explanation, as fundamental aspect of the psyche. This "report" integrates a few essential contributions of genocide scholarship with psychoanalytic thinking.

Alan Bass, Ph.D. is a practicing analyst in New York City. He is a training analyst and faculty member at IPTAR, and is also on the graduate philosophy faculty of The New School for Social Research. He is the author of three books (Difference and Disavowal: The Trauma of Eros; Interpretation and Difference: The Strangeness of Care; and Fetishism, Philosophy, and Psychoanalysis: The Iridescent Thing)  and the translator of four books by Jacque Derrida.  He is one of the joint recipients of the JAPA 2021 best paper award for "Murderous Racism as Normal Psychosis: The Case of Dylann Roof), and is one of the internationally recognized Freud scholars invited to participate in a special issue of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in honor of the publication of the Revised Standard Edition.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will learn about the psychodynamics of genocide.

Participants will understand integration of social science and psychoanalytic perspectives on the question of genocide.  

This is an Intermediate level of Presentation                                

Fees

CCP members: free with annual $195 membership, payable at registration.

Students:free with annual $175 membership, payable at registration.

New / Ongoing Fellows: free with annual $250/$300 membership, payable at registration.

Non-CCP members, single admission: $50

Continuing Education

This program is sponsored for Continuing Education Credits by the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the continuing education sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants or other funding that could be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If the program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CCP is licensed by the state of Illinois to sponsor continuing education credits for Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Counselors and Licensed Clinical Psychologists (license no. 159.000941 and 268.000020 and 168.000238 Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation).

Professionals holding the aforementioned credentials will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits a completed evaluation form must be turned in at the end of the presentation and licensed psychologists must first complete a brief exam on the subject matter. No continuing education credit will be given for attending part of the presentation. Refunds for CE credit after the program begins will not be honored. If a participant has special needs or concerns about the program, s/he/they should contact Toula Kourliouros Kalven by June 19, 2025 at: tkalven@ccpsa.org

References/Suggested Readings

Totem and Taboo, Chap. 4, SE 13.

"Instincts and Their Vicissitudes," SE 14.

"Thoughts for the Times on War and Death," SE 14.

Beyond the Pleasure Principle, SE 18.

Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, SE 18.

The Ego and the Id, Chaps. 3,4,5. SE

Civilization and its Discontents, SE 21.

Why War? SE 22.

Presented by

The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis/CCP Program Committee: Toula Kourliouros Kalven, Alan Levy, PhD, Zak Mucha, LCSW

The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis is an IRS 501(C)(3) charitable organization, and expenses may be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and your personal tax situation.